A major effort is under way to save the rare corncrake bird.
Birdwatch Ireland is carrying out a €250,000 project to save the threatened species in four areas of the country.
The corncrake's distinctive call was familiar in rural Ireland but its numbers have dwindled in recent decades due to more farm machinery disturbing its meadowland habitat.
The Corncrake Conservation Programme will be carried out in Co Donegal, West Connacht, the River Shannon's flood plains and West Kerry.
The corncrake is the only regularly breeding species in Ireland which occurs on Irish and EU lists of threatened birds.
In Ireland it is protected under the Wildlife Act.
"It is regarded as high priority for conservation action in Ireland," said a spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Heritage, which awarded the contract to Co Wicklow-based Birdwatch Ireland.
PA